Interviews: HC Pawlowski | OF Brown
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Baseball clinched its second Conference USA series win of the season, defeating Marshall by a score of 7-5 on Sunday afternoon. The Hilltoppers improved to 4-1 in the final game of league series, as freshman Luke Brown tallied a season-high three hits.
With their 17th victory of the season, WKU has eclipsed its win total from a 16-39 record in 2017. With the team's seventh Conference USA victory of the season, the Hilltoppers have surpassed their league win total from a 6-24 record in 2017.
After senior lefty Austin Tibbs shut out the Thundering Herd in the top of the first, WKU (17-18, 7-8) responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Steven Kraft led off with a five-pitch walk, the Jacob Rhinesmith skidded a single through the left side. Three-hitter Colie Currie ripped a double down the right-field line to score Kraft and put two runners into scoring position. Tyler Robertson followed with his league-leading sixth sacrifice fly of the year to push the early lead to 2-0.
Tibbs allowed a two-out, RBI single to Geordon Blanton that allowed Marshall to get back to 2-1, but the Hilltoppers responded with another two runs in the second inning.
With one out and the bases loaded, Rhinesmith grounded into a fielder's choice that drove home a run. During the play, Herd second baseman Peter Hutzal committed his third error of the series when he threw the ball into the visitor's dugout while trying to turn a fruitless double play, and a second WKU run scored, making it 4-1.
Marshall scored another two-out run in the third, to bring the score to 4-2, when reliever Conner Boyd allowed one of Tibbs' inherited runners to score on a Kody Matthews single. The starter's day was done after 2.2 frames. The senior lefty allowed six hits - all singles - and threw 34-of-49 pitches for strikes.
WKU added three more runs - all on sacrifice flies - in innings five and six. Colin Butkiewicz, Nick Brunson and Currie all recorded the productive outs and the hosts took a 7-2 lead into the top of the ninth.
Working on 2.2 brilliant innings with a season-high four strikeouts, reliever Jacob Green tried to close it out with the save, but allowed three straight baserunners with two outs to go.
In came closer Ben Morrison in a 7-3 game; with the game-tying run in the on-deck circle, it was a save situation. The senior threw 12 pitches - all for strikes - and allowed a pair of base hits that scored the inherited runners, but caught Dakota Robbins looking to end the game with a 7-5 victory for his career-high seventh save of the year.
Righty Michael Martin earned the win, throwing 1.1 scoreless frames with a season-high four strikeouts. It was Martin's first victory as a Hilltopper and the second in his collegiate career.
Topper Notes
- The Hilltopper pitching staff struck out 12 while issuing only one walk, the highest differential of the season. WKU has walked one or fewer batters in six games, and is 5-1 in those games.
- The Hilltopper lineup walked three times and struck out only three times, tying a season-low for the third time. In the three games WKU has only struck out three times, the team is 3-0. For the series, the hosts drew 21 walks and struck out 15 times.
- The Hilltoppers improved to 13-4 when scoring first, and 7-1 when only WKU scores in the first inning.
- WKU won the series despite being out-hit in all three games. The Hilltoppers improved to 4-12 when having fewer hits than their opponents, while they were 4-33 in such situations in 2017.
- There were zero long balls hit by either team in the series for the first time this season. WKU improved to 8-13 when not hitting a homerun and 12-6 when not allowing a homerun.
- Steven Kraft posted his second straight multi-run game of the season from the leadoff spot, running his season total to six and career total to 23. He also notched his 10th multi-hit game of the season and 42nd of his Hilltopper career.
- The senior second baseman went 2-for-4 with a walk, pushing his season slash line to .367/.492/.469; he ranks third in C-USA in batting average and second in on-base percentage.
- Luke Brown went 3-for-4, increasing his batting average to .333 (19-for-57) in C-USA play.
- Colie Currie recorded his second straight multi-RBI game, pushing his team-leading RBI total in C-USA play to 13. He has 23 RBI this season in 31 games after driving in 26 in 2017 in 54 starts.
Topper Quotes
- "This is a great win for us. We knew coming in we had to win this series, so to take 2-of-3 from Marshall, who's a very good team, is really good. Going into next week playing UAB, we'll have a lot of confidence." — Outfielder Luke Brown
- "After losing that close game Friday night, we were able to bounce back and today was a big win for the Tops. It's never easy, Marshall has an outstanding team and kept battling. Luckily, Ben did a great job and he's the guy we want out there to shut the door." — Head coach John Pawlowski
Up Next
Owners of the nation's longest win streak, Tennessee Tech, come to Nick Denes Field for a midweek matchup on Tuesday, April 17. WKU will face the challenge of a Golden Eagles' team that stands at 29-5 and has won 20 consecutive games. First pitch will be at 5 p.m.
